Hello all! Kenzie Steg here!
Today was our last full day
exploring the City of Paris. We have day trips outside of Paris planned for
tomorrow, so this was our last day to soak up the city. We did start the day by
venturing out of the city a bit to go to the Palace of Versailles. After
studying this palace in art history classes at KCAD, we were all excited to see
it person, especially the famous hall of mirrors. The Palace of Versailles
exists thanks to King Louis XIV. However, the basis of the palace and the land
had been started by Louis XIII, whom had built a hunting lodge there during his
reign, Louis XIV saw great potential in what the space could be and started construction
of the palace. By doing this Louis XIV made history by moving the aristocracy
and administration out of the city of Paris. He saw the palace as a way to
express power and wealth, and believed glory could be displayed through
buildings, not just wars.
Let’s begin
with the Hall of Mirrors, as we were all excited to see this. Pictures do not
quite do it justice, as people were in the way and lighting made the gold
accents capture a little strange at times. However, the hall was straight out
of a fairytale, and was very breathtaking. Light poured in from the windows on
the right, and danced off of the mirrors and chandeliers. There were several
beautiful, crystal chandeliers hanging down the length of the hall. This was a
space used to host ceremonies and receptions, as well as amaze the people that
viewed it. As mentioned, this building was meant to show of the authority and
wealth of France. The Hall of Mirrors was specifically built for this. It seems the lavish décor, gold accents, and
numerous chandeliers would be enough to display the wealth of the French aristocracy,
but Louis XIV had another idea. Mirrors were just entering into their new phase
of being produced as glass and being able to be poured as larger panels. By
having such a large number of mirrors in the hall, this was used to show
wealth, as well as the technical advancement that France had. Italy had been
known as the best when it came to mirror production, but Louis XIV wanted to
prove that wrong.
A nice surprise within the palace
that we had not known about was the military gallery. This displayed several
large paintings showcasing various wars that France has been involved in. The
paintings were interesting, but the hall itself was constructed and decorated
beautifully. It was a very exciting surprise that we did not know about.
The gardens were also very exciting
as they are another famous part of the Palace. Louis XIV loved the outdoors. He
also was decorated as the “sun king.” With this the garden was set up with
various paths, to resemble the rays of the sun coming from the center of the
gardens. The gardens were very pretty, but would be a lot more exciting in
spring and summer time.
We also walked to the Grand Trianon
that is placed further out in the gardens. This building was built in 1687
where there had previously been a trianon for Louis XIV to escape the palace. I
believe it was also one of the houses Marie Antoinette resided in. This was
another little special surprise that I was not aware of in the Versailles
grounds. The exterior was a yellow, with pieces of a pink marble on top. It
looked very feminine and beautiful. The small palace had a beautiful exterior
hall that connected the left and right wings. Its unique, feminine details made
it fun to imagine women of the court floating across the checkered floor from
wing to wing in their hoop skirts.
After the
Palace of Versailles, we took the RER to the metro stop near the Eiffel Tower.
Though we went by it the other day, we had tickets this time to go to the top.
We took the elevator to the second floor, where we had to change to the
elevator to go up to the very tiptop. This is something I wanted to do, however
I do have a fear of heights. The top wasn’t so bad, because it felt secure with
the fence. The past couple of days have been very windy, and it was even
windier at the top of the Eiffel Tower. This is what made it scary because the
wind was so powerful, And of course if you looked straight down it was scary.
However, we were able to appreciate the view overlooking Paris. Looking out at
the city I understand why the streets are so hard to navigate. Paris is laid
out crazy, and I’m pretty sure none of the streets are straight. We then went
back down, and headed towards the hotel to freshen up for dinner and to head to
Moulin Rouge.
Later
tonight we went to see the famous Moulin Rouge cabaret. This was exciting for many of us because we
did cover it in our fashion history classes. Similar to the Palace of
Versailles, it’s exciting to see something we have learned about, as well as
experience something that has been around for so many years.
Moulin
Rouge opened in 1889 starting a new lifestyle in Paris, by having a public
gathering place to go to. At this point in history France was undergoing
changes to re-create the setup of the city. Through this new areas were
created in public to create a new nightlife that had not existed. This allowed
for the first cabaret, Moulin Rouge to debut.
The show
has of course changed through the years since it opened. As fashion and time
evolved the cancan cabaret evolved as well. The show we saw tonight was
interesting to say the least. I honestly did not know what to expect. I thought
it would be similar to the dancing from the movie Burlesque, that I have seen,
which it kind of was. I knew there was a movie called, Moulin Rouge, so I had
thought it would be more of a story. I came to find out the movie was just
about the club. The show consisted of several segments, with different themes.
It was also interspersed with acts that seemed like something you would see
from America’s Got Talent.
The
costumes overall were very sparkly. The most memorable were the ones at the
end, which were BRIGHT pink. All of the dancers on stage in their poufy, pink
feathers were very bright, and a little bright for the eyes to handle. At the
beginning there were costumes that had some sort of feather bustle, and at one
point it popped up to create a larger circle behind the dancer. This added an
exciting surprise during the show, and made us think about their costuming. You
could then see the metal on the back that had lifted it up. Many of the hats
were extremely large, making us wonder how they store all of these costumes,
props, settings, and animals. Yes, I said animals. The show included snakes and
miniature ponies.
The worst
costumes were… the CLOWNS. For the carnival segment of the show, some of the
male dancers were dressed as clowns. Afterwards we all quickly came to an
agreement that the clowns did not work. Even for not knowing what to expect
from this show, that certainly seemed the least Moulin Rouge. The costumes were
just okay, and didn’t seem the best to dance in. It seems they could do
something more exciting, and more cancan than clowns.
Today was a great last day
experiencing the city of Paris! Check in tomorrow for my blog post on my visit
to Disneyland Paris!
